Mark Koven
Above: Jerusalem (Performance - installation view), 2008
Mark Koven, a mid-career conceptual artist, has steadily steered his art into the social realm. He currently orchestrates settings, communal situations, and paradigms to pressure socially loaded interactions, which have evolved from an intense research-based process. Koven has had solo shows at Dorsch Gallery, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, PS 742 and Art in Public Places in Miami, FL. His work has been included in group shows at the Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL; Slowtime 2007 New Media Art, Cologne, Germany; Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY; Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA.; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Hua Shan Cultural and Creative Industry Center, Taipei, Taiwan. He has received notable accolades including State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Sculpture; Scope Performance Grant; and Creative Capital Professional Development Grant. Koven has a BA in Education and Art History from Florida International University and an MFA Cum Laude from University of Miami, Coral Gables. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Statement
"...process or activity transforms art where art becomes more of an activity and less of a product." - Bruce Nauman
Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with the prospect of sharing my personal vision of the world while dreaming of experiencing it as others do. I create work out of a deep curiosity of how we experience life, come to understand it and disseminate our unique perspective to others. Through the senses and the various forms of communication prevalent today, we collect information about the world around us. For this reason, I believe in an inclusive approach to art making, with exploration and mutual sharing as fundamental components. I seek to influence people in an attempt to create movement in their perspective, affecting a modification of behavior.
Employing tactical media, I work to create situations where the viewer is unknowingly shifted from observer to participant. The inclusion of individuals and the assimilation of the audience are meant to create both a personal and group experience where distance between the art and the audience is physically as well as metaphorically diminished. Additionally, viewer immersion is meant to affect their perspective and destabilize preconceived expectations of social morays, political structure and power. Using media ranging from photography, sound, film and video, sculpture and installation, my work envelops the viewer into an experiential space where interaction becomes unavoidable. The result is often a stripping of their control where they are forced to make choices - the people in the know are put in positions of power forced to choose between helping others, doing nothing or taking advantage of their position. Content often incorporates concepts of world events in combination with aspects of human interaction ranging from family, politics, and religion, extending to simple daily activities such as eating, working and playing. Through incorporating time-based media, sound, and performance I can examine the nuances of human reaction, communication, experience, and memory.
As science has aspects of art, so does my art have aspects of science. Using this philosophy, my work becomes an exploration of experimentation. Social interaction is my testing ground for my research. By observing the outcome of the interaction between audience members and the work itself, I am constantly adjusting the way that I set up my experiments. Modifying behavior is my form of social activism, as it awakens people from apathy and complacency. My hope is that this awakening moves them to a more enlightened form of existence.